So you want to be a backpacker? The question is do you have what it takes to travel on a shoestring budget? Do you have what it takes to subsist on just how many pounds a day for you to be able to visit more destinations that would forever live in your memory? Backpackers are not really a stingy bunch, but when it comes to cheap travel, these people are just experts in making ends meet while on vacation and having fun. If you think that a nomadic lifestyle would suit you best, then here are some helpful tips which would help you evaluate if you have what it takes to be a backpacker.
Learn to Love Low-Cost Airlines
Low-cost airlines would always manage to survive as long as their loyal band of customers would permit them. While they mostly receive a lot of flak for the lack of quality services, sincerity, and airports closer to civilisation, the fact that they could offer you a ticket that would cost less than that of a train means that every Tom, Dick and Harry would be booking tickets on a whim for the mere reason that they are cheap. If budget is your primary concern, then this is the answer you’re looking for. For most low-cost airlines, the more you book in advance, the cheaper your plane tickets would tend to be.
Couch Surf
This is not even just talking about the popular website, but rather the very idea behind the mechanism at play. You host a traveller coming to your city; your reputation starts to get better and better; you are hosted when it is time for you to travel to their city. It is not just an effective way of dodging the forever rising price of accommodation, but rather also of making a lot of meaningful friendships along the way by gaining a new friend through the personal of the host. In the end, it serves as some sort of pay it forward kind of thing.
Live Like a Local, Ride Like a Local
You are a traveller alright, but by emulating the patterns of movement of locals, you would be saving up on unnecessary expenditures. The money you would spend on frequent taxi rides could add to your food allowance if you just spend time to study a map of the city in advance, and get familiar with its transportation system, may it be the metro or bus routes.
Whenever, wherever, bear in mind that you only live once, and as such, you need backpacker insurance to give you the peace of mind that would otherwise not be there. Backpacker insurance does not really cost that much, yet offers great value to clients thanks to its unique terms and conditions. Think of it as betting with the insurance company that something bad is going to happen. If and when it does, at least you would not be dealing with the ugly consequences.